


Simply Humans

by overrated_joe



Series: Sometimes It's Better to Take What's Given to You [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Horror Elements, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Empress Undyne Ending, Spin-Off, Survival, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 05:12:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8476627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overrated_joe/pseuds/overrated_joe
Summary: Eileen didn't believe in monsters, but her life is about to turn into a living hell because of them.(This work is a spin-off to the main trilogy)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the spin-off I've promised! It turned out to be very experimental, but I hope I did a good job! :)  
> For those who don't know: this work is a spin-off to my "Sometimes..." series. I don't think you really need to have read the other two parts of the main story to understand this one – just know it's set six years after the Empress Undyne ending, when monsters break free from the barrier and start a war against humanity. Then again, I'm not sure this will interest you if you haven't read the rest of the series, but who am I to say what you should or shouldn't read, right? xP  
> 

**_May 14th_ **

**_The night the war broke out_ **

Eileen used to believe in monsters.

When she was very little, for example, she was scared of the “boogeyman” hidden under her bed, or the ghosts inside the closet. She often would call her parents to “scare them off”, so her room would be safe again. Even then, there were the occasions her quiet, peaceful slumber would be assaulted by terrifying nightmares – which meant her bedroom wouldn’t be safe for at least the rest of the night. 

But then, like every other child, she grew up and stopped believing in those creatures. Monsters, ghosts, demons, or whatever they were called, were just things created by the active imagination of children, or by adults who wanted children to behave. They weren’t real. The mere possibility of real-life monsters existing was absurd.

If that was the case, why was she shaking so hard?

No, it was real. _Too_ real. She saw them invading her hometown and slaying people without second thought. They pierced their weapons and shot glowing lights that made things explode. She saw them die and turn into dust too, and that was what she hated the most. Their remains were all over her body – on her hair, her face and her hands. It smelled like death.

“Sir, I’ll have to ask you to calm down.”

And suddenly, Eileen was aware of her surroundings once again. She was in a police station from the neighbouring town, sitting on a chair. Her father was up, speaking with the deputy, but the conversation was clearly going nowhere.

“No, you don’t understand!”, he replied. “You need to warn the people! It won’t be safe here!”

“Warn about the... ‘monsters’?”, asked the deputy, crossing his arms skeptically, with an annoyed look.

She couldn’t blame them. She could barely believe her eyes when she saw the monsters, and she was there when they appeared. She was having a nice evening with her father – they both had dinner at a steak house nearby their house – and were coming home by foot when there was a blackout. And when she knew it, she was surrounded by those freaky creatures battling and killing everyone who crossed their path for no reason. If her father hadn’t gotten the small machine gun they had at home, they wouldn’t have been able to escape the city by car.

“I know it sounds crazy, but you have to listen to me!”, he pleaded. “Those things are destroying my town, and it’s not far from here! I don’t know when they’ll get here, but they will, so there’s no time to lose!”

Eileen’s father was a middle-aged man with brown skin called Leonard. He was, of course, the best man she ever knew – kind, compassionate and strong, but even that situation was getting the best of him. His clothes were messy (like hers) and his machine gun was hanging over his back by a simple sling.

The deputy merely looked at him from top to bottom with a look full of suspicion.

“Is that _blood_ in your clothes?”

Leonard looked down at his clothes. Eileen gulped – she knew there were bloodstains on his T-shirt and jeans. She knew what the deputy was thinking, and wanted to say something – anything – but her voice was gone. It had been gone for the past hour or so.

“I-it’s not what you think!”, he said. “It’s because of the monsters..!”

“Sir, you’ll need to come with me.”, replied the deputy, not taking his eyes out of the other man.

“No, we don’t have _time_! Listen, why would I make something like this up!?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised...”, said the deputy with a cold look. “Now come with me, we can do this the easy way... or the hard way. Think about your daughter.”

Eileen’s father looked at her with an anguished look, who in turn felt a primal fear installing within her heart. They were going to get separated, and that was the last thing she wanted in those circumstances. He was her only family, and if something happened to him...

And that was the moment when all the lights went out.

Eileen’s breathing quickened. She knew what that meant. She knew what was going to happen. However, everyone else – besides her father – simply looked around, curious, unaware of the danger that approached.

“Damn..! Dammit!”, said her father, frustrated and panicking. “We have to get out of here!”

“You’re not going _anywhere_ until we clear this matter up.”, said the deputy in return, firmly.

Eileen looked, her throat dry, as the two man stared each other for a moment. The deputy thought her father was hiding something – something really bad – and she could see he was filled with a desire to fulfill his job to investigate the matter. The other, however, looked at him desperately – the typical look of a man who had run out of options. 

In a sudden movement, Leonard charged against the deputy, making them fall with their back to the floor. Everyone looked in shock as he turned around, looking at Eileen.

“Let’s go!”, he commanded.

Even though her legs felt like jelly, she jolted up as her father passed running by her towards the precinct’s exit. She ran, catching up with him as the deputy yelled behind her.

A gush of air blew on her face as they got back to the streets. They were crowded with people who had been enjoying the evening, as well as some curious folks who went outside to escape the sudden darkness that had appeared inside their homes, restaurants or shops. The moon was hiding behind some clouds, which made the natural light dimmer.

They blended in within the crowds – Leonard looked nervously behind his shoulders to check if he was being followed. Eileen kept close to him. As they passed by, some people noticed he was carrying a machine gun, looking astonished at it.

“Dad...”, she called, her voice hoarse. “What are we gonna do?”

He looked behind a couple more times before replying.

“We need to get back to the car. We can’t stay in this town. Trying to warn people was a mistake.”

He said the last sentence with a bitterness that made Eileen feel bad. It was true, as just proved by the deputy at the police station – trying to warn an authority only made them look suspicious. Nobody would believe that crazy story – and by the time they’d start believing in them, it would be already too late. Still, how could they simply walk away without telling anyone about it?

But they didn’t have much time to think about that matter. Screams were heard in the distance, alongside the zapping and buzzing sounds those monsters made with their attacks. Becoming slightly faint, Eileen felt a sensation of tightness around her chest.

They had arrived.

“Shit, they’re here!”, said Leonard, picking Eileen by the hand. “It’s too late! We need to find somewhere safe!”

And with that, they started running away among the confused and scared crowd. Eileen didn’t know, by that time, that they would be doing that a lot during the following months.

* * *

  ** _May 19th_**

**_Five days after the war broke out_ **

****

“Leen, look what I made!” 

Eileen was sitting on a chair, hands crossed by her lap, staring at the floor but not really thinking about anything. Since her childhood there would be moments she would zone out for no reason at all – but that was the first time it happened after the monsters had attacked. She looked at the direction of the voice.

Sitting on the floor in front of her, a little boy with blonde hair was waving at her cheerfully, proudly holding a tiny house he had made with Lego.

“Wow Josh, it’s so pretty!”, complimented Eileen, smiling kindly.

The boy beamed with the comment.

“I wanna build things when I grow up!”, he said, fiddling with more Lego that was thrown around in the ground. “Cool and big houses!”

Eileen felt a squeeze in her heart. Of course, Josh was only five years old, and he was pretty much oblivious to what was going on. The way things were going, maybe there wasn’t much of a future waiting for him – not when it was unknown whether they would be alive the next day, let alone the next decade. Perhaps Josh’s dream of building “cool and big houses” would never become more than a dream.

No, what was she _thinking_? Eileen shook her head. She had to stay hopeful – if not for her sake, for the others around her, and that included the happy little boy in front of her.

“And will you build one for me?”, she asked, giving a little chuckle.

“Of course, Leen! You’re my friend! I’ll build houses for aaaaall my friends!”, answered Josh, making a big gesture with his arms while he spoke.

She smiled. Sweet little Josh reminded her that, when she was a kid, she really wanted a little brother or sister. She remembered bothering her parents all the time about it, and every time she did that her father would give a nervous laugh and her mother would smile and say “ _maybe in the future, sweetie_ ”.

But then, the future came, and it brought something other than a sibling. Her mother got sick with a rare disease that didn’t have a cure, and after two long years of suffering, she finally passed away. Since then, it has been only Eileen and her father – as her grandparents had died too and none of her parents had any siblings themselves.

From time to time she’d think about her mother, and she’d either get happy, sad, or a mixture of both. Nine years had passed since she died, but Eileen could remember her perfectly well, like a photograph – her smile, her curly hair – she was really beautiful, at least when she was still healthy. But even after she got sick, she always smiled. She would say they had to keep positive in times like those, and that everything would be alright.

That turned out to be lie – she died, after all. But that was a lie Eileen was willing to forgive – her mother had been an incredible woman until the very end.

Before she could think too long about all that, the bedroom’s door opened, and her father stepped inside alongside a young, blonde woman.

“Heya, Leenie.”, he greeted, walking towards her. “How you holding up?”

“Fine, I guess.”, she said, sighing.

“Mooom!”, said Josh, standing up and running towards the woman, who in turn opened a big smile and crouched down to hug the boy.

“How’s my little man doing?”, she asked, pinching his nose. “Are you taking good care of Eileen here?”

“Yes!”, he replied, holding the Lego house he had built. “I made this for her!”

“Whoa, so cool! Can you build one for me?”

“I’ll build you a hundred if you want, mom! Just for you!”

The woman laughed, hugging her son tightly.

“Just one is fine, sweetheart. Make a beautiful one for both of us.”

“Okay!”

And with that, Josh broke his mother’s hug and returned to the Lego pieces, immediately beginning to work on a new house. Eileen watched him, smiling.

“So, how did it go?”, she asked her father as the woman walked towards them.

His expression became serious.

“We made contact again.”, he stated. “A little more and they’ll allow us to join them.”

“This is taking too long.”, said the woman, finally reaching them and putting her hands on her hips. She seemed tired. “I hope it’s worth it.”

“Trust me, Jill, it will.”, Eileen’s father replied. “In the very least, supplies will be easier to get, and a good group always increases our chances of survival.”

Of course Eileen agreed with that, but she had her doubts if the resistance group that had installed within the city was actually “good”. They’ve been trying to convince them to join it since the day after the monsters attacked, and in the meantime they found Jill and Josh. They’ve all been living in an abandoned house since then.

“What about the monsters?”, asked Eileen.

Leonard and Jill looked at each other, tense.

“We didn’t find any.”, he answered. “But we can’t let our guard down, we know they were here the day before yesterday. They might be hiding.”

“Yeah, we should be careful.”, agreed Jill. “Specially now we gotta head out again to find some food.”

“I wanna go with you.”, said Eileen.

She looked at the floor again, but could feel the two adults’ stares on her as she said that.

“Sorry, Leen.”, Leonard apologized. “Not gonna happen.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m your father and I said so.”

“Dad, I’m not a little girl anymore!”

Eileen looked straight into her father’s eyes. She knew eventually that would happen, because he always treated her like a child. She always managed to work around it until then, but she couldn’t stand simply being there and letting her father do everything anymore. Moreover, she hated being separated from him.

Her father sighed, closing his eyes for a moment and pressing his temples.

“I know you’re not.”, he finally said. “But it’s still too dangerous. This whole situation is too risky for me to simply allow you to tag along. At least for now.”

“Your father is right, Eileen.”, said Jill, and Leonard looked gratefully at her. “We’d never forgive ourselves if something happened to you. And besides –”, she glanced back at her son and spoke in a lower tone. “– someone needs to take care of Josh.”

Eileen wanted to disagree, but Jill had made a solid point – at least about Josh. Who would the little boy stay with if she went along the two adults? She crossed her arms. She still didn’t like the idea of being left out, but for the moment she’d have to give in.

“Okay.”, she said, trying not to sound annoyed. “I understand.”

Her father looked relieved at her.

“Thanks, Leen.”

Eileen simply shrugged, avoiding to look at him. He seemed bothered, but didn’t say anything.

“Good. Let’s go, Leonard.”, said Jill, turning around and crouching down next to her son. “Hey, sweetheart... mom’s gotta go out for a little while, but I’ll be back soon, okay?”

Normally Josh would ask his mom why, but he was so into his “work” he simply nodded, and Jill kissed him on the forehead. Meanwhile, Leonard walked towards the bedroom entrance and stood there, waiting for the other woman. She quickly stood up and got out of the room, mumbling “let’s go” on the way. Eileen glanced nervously at her father, who gave an unsure goodbye wave before heading out, too. She heard them closing the house’s entrance door a few seconds later.

A few minutes passed without anything special happening. Eileen kept in silence, watching Josh building his new Lego house – which was turning out to be the biggest one yet. She was glad the little boy got entertained with something – there wasn’t much for her to do, though. Even with the constant fear of encountering more of those monsters, the last few days had been quite monotonous.

Soon enough, a feeling of agitation started filling her. She wanted to do _something_. She had never stepped outside the house after they took shelter in it, but as much as she wanted to do it, she knew she couldn’t – not when she had to take care of Josh, anyway. Instead, she stood up from her chair and walked towards the bedroom’s door.

“Hey Josh...”, she called. The boy didn’t look. “I’m going to the kitchen. If you need anything just call me, okay?”

“’kay’.”, he replied, with his eyes still fixed on the toy in front of him.

She smiled a bit. Josh was a good little kid.

Eileen walked around the house – something she had been doing a lot lately, as it seemed to calm her down. The whole layout of the place was already imprinted inside her head. She knew, for example, the “secret closet” inside one bedroom, revealed by pushing an unsuspicious mirror. Or the broken doorknob that prevented her from accessing a small room. When she was bored, she’d fiddle with it, trying to get it open. She knew there probably wasn’t anything interesting in there, but that was the closest she ever had to having fun inside that house.

For some reason, she always ended up in the kitchen. It was fairly big, and although it was in poor shape since the monsters appeared, she reckoned it was once an elegant, inviting place to eat meals or simply have a cup of tea. The walls were covered in a yellow wallpaper that had some white patterns in it, and there was a big glass table in the middle. A door that lead to the backyard stood next to a broken fridge. The overcast day cast a pale white light inside the room, giving it an eerie feeling of abandonment.

Every time Eileen stepped into the kitchen her sight immediately locked on a handgun over the counter. They had found it inside the house, and her father left it there “for emergencies”. It even had a full magazine with nine bullets, but she had never even touched it – and hoped she would never have to. She never liked guns – the fact her father used to keep an automatic one inside their would often be reason for arguments.

 _Knock knock_.

Eileen was pulled from her thoughts, and looked at the backdoor. Was it her imagination or..?

 _Knock knock_.

She tensed up. Someone _really_ was knocking on the door. Who could it be? It wouldn’t be her father, neither Jill.

Walking on the tip of her toes, she went to the counter and picked the handgun up, putting it in the back pocket of her jeans. Whoever was knocking on the door at least was polite enough to do so, but she couldn’t take any chances.

As she slowly walked towards her door, with every hair in her body standing up, the unknown visitor knocked a couple more times. _Knock knock_. When she approached the door, she hesitated a little. Shouldn’t she simply pretend there wasn’t anyone home? _Knock knock_. But then why didn’t they simply try to break into the house? Did they know someone was there? Why were they bothering to knock, anyway?

_Knock knock._

“Who’s... who’s there?”, she asked, tried to keep her voice firm.

There was a moment of silence.

“Etch.”

“Etch... who?”

“Bless you.”

Eileen frowned. It took her a moment to understand. Did they just..?

“ _What_?”

The voice laughed nervously at their own joke. It sounded masculine, and slightly goofy. Eileen shook her head, as if still processing what was going on.

“Tsk, though crowd, huh?”, they said.

“Who _are_ you?”

“Whoa, I can tell you’re a very careful young lady!”

“Who. Are. You?”, she repeated, her voice loud, clear, and deadly serious.

“Geez, no need to be so mean! I’m Alex.”, replied the man. “I’m from the resistance group here in town. We’ve been talking to a man called Leonard and a lady called Jill, and today we decided to accept them – and you – into our group! They’re at our HQ, and I came to escort you there.”

She bit her lip. Didn’t her father say they were _almost_ being allowed to join the group? And, as far as she knew, Jill and him went outside to get food and supplies, and not to make contact again. Did they change their minds? Or was it a trap? Then again, how did that “Alex” knew her father’s and Jill’s names? They knew too much to simply be lying.

Eileen decided to give it the benefit of doubt, but would keep her guard up regardless. With her hand shaking a little, she turned the doorknob and opened the door, revealing the figure of a young man, around 25 years old, with a military haircut. He dressed a simple white T-shirt and camouflaged green pants. However, what most stood out about his appearance were his violet eyes, which really picked Eileen’s attention. It must have been obvious that she was surprised by it, because he gave a gentle smile and said.

“Yeah, I know. The eyes.”, he said, peeling them for a moment in a comical way. “The ladies really like it, am I right?”

She forced herself to look away. Alex took the opportunity and stepped inside the house, even though that wasn’t Eileen’s intention, at least not in that moment. However, as he walked through the kitchen, looking around, curious, she simply followed him quietly, attentive to all his movements. She noticed he didn’t seem to be carrying a weapon, which struck her as odd.

Alex gave a little whistle.

“Wow, this is a really nice place you found!”

Eileen nodded, but then noticed Alex wasn’t facing her, so he couldn’t see. She didn’t bother with an answer, though.

“Have any supplies here?”

“Where’s Jill and my father?”

The man turned around, gazing at her with a silly smile, like he was coming up with a joke.

“Gosh, why do I feel I’m being interrogated?”, he complained.

“Just answer the question.”

He sighed, intertwining his fingers on the back of his head and stretching his neck.

“I told you already. They’re at our HQ. Your father asked me to bring you there.”

Eileen crossed her arms. What Alex was telling her was really believable, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling something was off. Even if her father and Jill had managed to be accepted by the group, would they place their trust on a stranger to bring their children there?

There was also another thing. If there was anything one could say about Eileen, it would be about how perceptive she was. She could _feel_ when people were lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. Her father was well aware of that quality – sometimes he’d even joke about it, saying it was her “superpower”.

“What about weapons?”, suddenly inquired Alex.

Eileen looked at the floor.

“Nothing.”, she said, taking a little too long to answer, but the man didn’t seem to take notice.

The handgun was, of course, in her back pocket, but something in her gut told her to lie about that. Eileen was starting to think letting him in was a mistake.

“Well, we have no time to lose then.”, said Alex. “Let’s go.”

Eileen wasn’t willing to go anywhere with that man, but did she have any other choice? There wasn’t any conclusive evidence indicating he was lying. Was it possible she was just being paranoid?

Wait a minute.

“What about Josh?”, she inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Alex looked at her with a confused expression, but recomposed. It was so quick that if Eileen wasn’t looking she wouldn’t have noticed.

“Oh, right!”, he said. “Silly me! Well, why don’t you introduce me to your li’l bro?”

As a dark spot on a perfectly white sheet, there it was: the blatant lie Eileen had been looking for, visible for all to see. She could see it in his face too – the expression of someone who was hiding something.

“Josh... is not my brother.”

That time, Alex couldn’t hide his confusion so well. He squinted his eyes and shook his head, while Eileen slowly put her hand on the grip of the gun in her back pocket. She felt her stomach sinking.

Something was wrong.

“Y-you are not who you say you are, right?”, said Eileen, her voice shaking a little. “You lied to me! Who _are_ you!?”

For a moment, Alex simply stood there, gazing at her with a gentle smile on his face. However, it didn’t take long for his expression to turn into a wicked one, his smile no longer gentle, but malicious.

“Oh, Eileen, Eileen, Eileen...”, he said, his smile turning unnaturally wide, sending shivers down her spine. “But you lied to me too. I know you have a weapon... you _dirty girl_.”

“Alex” hadn’t even finished the sentence when Eileen drew the handgun and pointed at him. Her hands were shaking badly, and her mind raced. What could she do? How would she shoot with that thing?

“Ok, I’m done with these little games!”, he said, laughing manically. “Let’s get real now, shall we? Simply looking like you _grosses me out_!”

She couldn’t really listen what he was saying, but the last part of the sentence struck her as odd. Looking like... her? The bad feeling inside her chest grew.

She knew _exactly_ what that meant.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t any less shocking when suddenly his violet eyes popped out of his eye sockets and fell to the ground like two big olives. Eileen flinched, involuntarily giving a grossed out scream as his skin bubbled. Big, round eyes with violet irises began to cover his body from top to bottom, and it made a disgusting sound.

The figure in front of her was humanoid, but no longer resembled a man, but a creature that could only have been created by someone’s darkest nightmares. It laughed, and it sounded like the voices of three “Alexes” were overlapping each other, filling Eileen’s heart with a paralyzing horror. 

“Their faces are _always_ the best part!”, it said.

It started to slowly walk towards her, making a slimy sound. She froze in place, pointing the handgun at it, but her body was shaking so badly she couldn’t bring herself to pull the trigger. She wanted to run, but couldn’t feel her legs. The creature wasn’t in a rush – it seemed to be savoring the moment of terror it was inflicting upon the girl.

And then, she heard a crashing sound, and the monster flinched. Lego pieces fell scattered across the floor, and when Eileen looked who was behind that eyed freak, her heart almost skipped out of her mouth.

“Leave Eileen alone!”, exclaimed Josh, looking fiercely at the monster.

“Oh, you..!”, it said, slowly turning around.

Before Eileen could scream for the little boy to run, the creature made a quick movement and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up from the ground. Josh kicked his little legs around, struggling.

“Let him go!”, yelled Eileen, finally pulling the trigger.

With a loud “ _bang_ ”, the gun fired. The bullet hit one of the eyes around the monster’s waist, and it let out a hurt and angered howl in turn. Eileen shrieked as the creature threw Josh with force towards the glass table. It crashed, sending glass shards across the room.

“NO!”, she screamed, running towards the boy.

The monster slapped her with tremendous strength, making Eileen hit her back to the opposite wall. She fell to the ground, dizzy, every part of her body aching. She looked up, and through her blurry vision she saw the monster walking towards her. The handgun was a few feet from her. She reached her trembling arm in a futile attempt to grab it.

And suddenly, she heard the sounds of quick, successive shots from a firearm, and the monster stood still in its place, taken by surprise. Eileen stood on the ground, covering her head, tears falling from her eyes for some dreadful seconds, and then it all stopped. She hesitantly looked up to see the creature still in its place, like a statue, the pupils in its various eyes very tiny. It then literally exploded, turning into violet dust, some of it falling over Eileen.

She sat on the floor, still shaking, and her father crouched down next to her with a worried expression. She looked at him for a moment before hugging him tightly, and he hugged her back, making a “shushing” sound to calm her down.

Eventually, she calmed down, but then she noticed someone else was crying. She broke the hug and looked across the room. Jill was sitting on the floor amidst the broken glass table, crying desperately. Eileen felt the air leaving her lungs.

No, no, _please_ , no..!

She stood up, and her father held her hand.

“Eileen, don’t...”, he said, but the girl simply shook his hand off and walked towards Jill and her son.

When she saw it, she lost the feeling of her legs and fell to the knees on the floor, feeling the glass shards cutting them, but not caring about it.

Jill cried over the limp, lifeless form of Josh. A pool of blood formed around him, his left arm bent in a weird angle and his eyes wide open – but there was no light in them. His dream of building big houses was forever lost in the dark, taken away alongside his life.

* * *

  ** _June 2nd_**

**_19 days since the war broke out_ **

It wasn’t a particularly hot day, but the rain from the day before combined with the vegetation from the forest made the air sultry – which in turn caused Eileen to sweat bullets. Her clothes were stuck to her body – and the same thing applied to her father.

They walked in silence through the woods, surrounded by the sounds of the insects and birds. Eileen had never been so deep into a forest before – which was curious, since the region was heavily forested. Even her hometown was next to an atlantic one – the only thing that separated the city from the legendary Mt. Ebott.

“Wanna stop and rest a little?”, asked Leonard, looking at his daughter.

Eileen shook her head, determined. She knew they had to keep moving – the last couple weeks had been lived on the run, and that day was no exception. They needed to get to the next town as soon as possible – their supplies wouldn’t last forever, after all.

“Well, I do.”, he said, taking his backpack out and stretching his arms. “I’m not as young as you, y’know.”

He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes, but dropped her backpack on the ground and sat next to it. She picked up a water bottle and drank from it, passing it to her father afterwards.

 _“GO AWAY! DON’T LET ME SEE YOUR FACE EVER AGAIN, OR I’LL KILL YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE!”_ , a voice echoed in her head.

Eileen shivered a little – a movement that didn’t pass unnoticed by her father, who looked concerned at her.

“You alright?”, he asked.

“I’m fine.”

“Leen, the fact you can easily perceive a lie doesn’t make you a great liar yourself. C’mon, tell me what’s bothering you.”

Letting out a long, tired sigh, she looked at her father. They always had a great, open relationship – no secrets, no lies. However, she didn’t want to burden him even more in that bizarre situation they found themselves into. Still, seeing him looking at her with such concern made her feel bad, so she decided he deserved a bit of honesty.

“It’s... well... you know...”, she said, gathering all her strength to say that last word. “Josh.” 

Two weeks had passed, but the image of his dead body would be forever imprinted into her mind. Josh was so sweet, so innocent, he didn’t deserve what happened. It was unfair. She couldn’t blame Jill for hating her for it. That was why Leonard and Eileen parted ways with her that day.

“Oh, Eileen...”, said Leonard, a deep sorrow hearable in his voice. “I feel really sorry for what happened... but you can’t blame yourself for that.”

“W-why... why not?”, she asked, her voice thin and trembling. “I was dumb enough to let that... thing... enter the house, and when everything went south I couldn’t... I couldn’t even protect Josh!”

She didn’t want to, but tears were already streaming down her face. She hated to cry – she didn’t like the way it made her feel. But that whole situation was just too much. She was just a teenager – how could anyone expect her to deal with all that?

Leonard quickly approached and passed an arm around her, and she rested her head in his shoulder.

“Leenie, listen to me.”, he said, his voice soft. “From what you told me, that monster tricked you. But even if you hadn’t fallen for it, it would have simply burst into the house and attacked anyway.”

Eileen looked up at her father’s concerned expression. He did have a point, but even then...

“Maybe y-you’re right.”, she stated. “But that doesn’t change anything. I can’t even defend myself, let alone defend others. What if... what if one day _you_ get yourself in trouble, dad? I... I wouldn’t be able to do anything!” 

She never felt so helpless before in her life – not even when her mother died, because even though she was in pain, she knew she still had her father. But the current situation made it so death was just waiting for them around the next corner, and if the time came she had to fight, she wasn’t sure she would be able to do it.

Her father looked at her with a pensive expression, as if he was coming up with something. Suddenly, he opened his backpack and started to fiddle with it, searching for something. Eileen looked, curious.

Then, he took a handgun out of it – the same handgun they found weeks ago. He offered it to her, and she hesitated a little before picking it up. She looked at him, intrigued, as it wouldn’t be expected from her father to do such a thing – even with all the circumstances considered. He looked serious at her.

“If you wanna learn how to defend yourself... and how to defend others... I can teach you.”, he said. “But you need to know that a gun is _not_ a toy, Eileen. It won’t keep you safe. In fact, it will only put you in danger if you don’t use it properly. It will all depend on you.”

It took her some seconds to notice he wanted an answer. She looked at the handgun once again, and felt a sensation she couldn’t quite describe growing in her chest. She _wanted_ to be able to defend herself. The world had changed – it was kill or be killed – and she needed to learn how to play by its rules.

“I wanna do it.”, she replied, nodding.

“Very well.”, he said, standing up. “Come with me for a minute, now.”

She stood up as well and followed him, grasping the gun with both her hands. Her father looked around for a while before finally finding a tree stump among the vegetation. He walked towards it and opened his backpack, taking an empty can out of it and placing on top of the stump. Eileen immediately understood what they were going to do. He took her by the hand and walked backwards, until they made a considerable distance from the can.

“Okay, now point at the can with the weapon for me to see.”, he commanded.

Eileen obeyed, insecurely pointing the gun the way she thought was right. Her father stood by her side and made some corrections on her shooting stance and the flexion of her arms.

“See this two parts here?”, he said, placing his fingers at two elevations on the handgun – one on the front and one on the rear. “This is what we call the ‘front sight’, and this one here is the ‘rear sight’. The basic thing with the handgun, and a lot of other types of firearms as well, is to align both sights with your target.”

Eileen nodded to show she understood and lifted the gun at her eyes’ height, adjusting the sights with the can. Her father made a couple more corrections and some remarks _(“Don’t close one of your eyes while aligning the sights. Try to keep your elbows a little more flexed.”_ ) before continuing.

“Now, to shoot, it’s best if you keep as still as possible. Hold your breath if you feel that helps.”, he explained. “The rest is practice, really. Give it a go.”

She took a deep breath. Her hands were shaking a little – that whole situation reminded her of the traumatic experience with that monstrous freak that killed Josh. But she had to do it. It was her first step into learning how to defend herself.

She held her breath.

She pulled the trigger.

* * *

**_July 8th_ **

**_55 days since the war broke out_ **

 

Even though they were in the middle of summer, the evening approached alongside a fresh, cool wind that Eileen would have welcomed better if the situation was different. Instead, she found herself wandering around the empty town, holding her handgun just in case, searching for some supplies before she’d head back to the shelter.

She was tired, but her senses were as sharp as ever. Even the smallest sounds were picked up by her ears and made her look around, searching for its sources. Normally, it wouldn’t be anything out of ordinary – an empty can that fell from a trash can or maybe a lonely mice that crossed the street – but she couldn’t take any chances. Not after what happened. Fear and stress had become part of her routine – and the worst thing was that she was practically used to it.

Exploring in the dark was dangerous, so Eileen decided to check the next minimally promising place she’d find and settle for that. It seemed to be her lucky day as she quickly found a quite big drug store by the corner. She entered the broken entrance without thinking too much.

The place was, of course, destroyed because of the monsters attacks and the subsequent looting done by humans. Empty bottles and packages were scattered on the floor alongside broken glass. The walls had big cracks – some of them covered the room from top to bottom. It was the sight of destruction and despair – something Eileen bitterly noticed she was also getting used to see.

How did the monsters managed to move so quickly from one place to another? It was like a fierce and merciless hurricane that wrecked everywhere it went. That was probably a question she’d never find the answer to, so it was not like she’d bother too much with it.

One thing that war – and she knew for certain she could call it that way – changed in her was that she had become more of a practical person.

Going behind the counter, Eileen opened the door to the storage. It consisted of a small room with some shelves, and to her surprise it was in a much better shape than the rest of the drug store.

Her sight immediately locked on some medicine boxes on a shelf next to her. There were even antibiotics there – the group would certainly like that. And they weren’t expired, too. She had just lifted her hand to pick it up when she saw something moving by the corner of her eye.

Point. Rear sight-front sight-target. Finger by the trigger.

A few feet in front of her stood a monster. It was about half her height and looked humanoid, although the greenish skin and the big hand with an eye in the middle they had in place of their head were hard to miss.

Eileen’s sharp senses meant that if she had shot just as she noticed the movement she’d probably have made a clean hit, but of course she knew better. “ _Always know what you’re shooting at before you pull the trigger_ ” was probably the best advice her father gave her. And so far, she was following it.

It was a monster – no doubt about it. Her instincts told her to pull the trigger. However, something made her hesitate. Perhaps it was the child-like look in its eye. And it seemed scared, shaking slightly but too afraid to move.

Part of her wanted to shoot anyway. What if it was a trap? She had been deceived by appearances before, after all. What if it was accompanied? And even if that wasn’t the case, those monsters had killed perhaps countless of human children. A bit of revenge would make things even for both sides, wouldn’t it?

And it wasn’t like she hadn’t done it before, right?

Despite all that, she pointed the gun down, looking at her feet.

“Go.”, she said.

She was expecting the monster to run – or maybe attack her – but nothing happened. Some seconds passed before she looked up again only to find it looking at her with what she thought to be a dumbfounded look.

“I said GO!”, she yelled, and that was enough for the small creature to run away past her, going out of the storage and the drug store.

For some reason, Eileen started to shake her head, as if in denial of something. Then she looked at the storage door behind her sorrowfully. An extremely uncomfortable thought started to crawl inside her head.

Yes – monsters had appeared out of nowhere and had began a nonsensical war on humanity. It would be easy to paint everything in black-and-white. Monsters were bad and period – that thought made it much easier to pull the trigger.

Yet, things were never as straight as people would like to believe. Eileen had just witnessed something that, deep inside, she knew all along. Not _all_ monsters were fighting. Some were just caught up in it – and in that matter their situation was similar to humans’.

However, she couldn’t bring herself to feel bad for any of them. Not really. Not after what had happened to Josh. Almost two months had passed since that incident, but it still hurt as if it were day one.

In the end, she couldn’t stay there in the drug store forever. Picking up what she could, she made her way out and began to walk towards her shelter. There was still a bit of clarity in the sky, but it was a matter of minutes before everything would go really dark. It wouldn’t be too troublesome for Eileen, as she carried a flashlight, but she didn’t want to make her father – or anyone else – worried for her.

She reached the place her father and she had been living for the past few weeks – a simple home in what used to be the city’s downtown. She barely touched the doorknob when the door was opened by someone on the other side.

“Oh, hey Eileen.”, greeted a young woman.

“Hi, Heather.”

Heather was one of the people who had joined Eileen and Leonard during their travels. She was in her early 20’s, and had really short brown hair. She wore a simple blouse and shorts, with a hoodie wrapped around her waist.

“What were you doing in our... house?”, asked Eileen, sounding a bit unsure to call that place her “house”.

“Your father called.”, answered the other. “He’s... coming up with something. But I think it’s better if you ask him about it yourself.”

Her expression was a bit weird, and Eileen frowned. Leonard had become some sort of “leader” to the group they had, so he would often come up with the plans on how to proceed. However, it felt like that time things would take a different turn, somehow.

“Are you okay?”, asked Heather, stepping outside and looking worryingly at Eileen.

She looked up to the other woman for a moment, and the situation with the monster at the drug store crossed her mind. Should she tell Heather about it? Probably not – it would just alarm everyone.

“Yes.”, she replied, trying to sound convincing. “I... went to a drug store and found some antibiotics.”

“Whoa, that’s great!”, said the other, smiling. “We really needed those, good job, Eileen!”

Eileen couldn’t help but smile too. Heather was the only one in the group that treated her as an equal, and not as a child. She really appreciated that.

“I’m gonna talk to my father.”, said Eileen, entering the house.

“He’s on the bedroom, the one with the map. Just knock before you enter. Chris is there, too. See ya!”

“Bye-bye.”

She watched Heather walk away for a brief moment before entering the house, closing the door behind her. It was a fairly simple home with living room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom – but it was more than enough for Eileen and her father.

She headed towards the bedroom Leonard had been sleeping in, and as she approached, she heard voices talking. The door was open, so she just stood next to it, as she didn’t want to interrupt whatever was being discussed.

“So you think it was them?”

“How many humans do you think are traveling alongside monsters?”, Leonard’s voice sounded intrigued.

“Yeah, I don’t know... have any guesses on why?”

“No. Not really. Maybe they’re taken hostage, but even then that makes little sense, considering those freaks seem to be on a genocide mission or something.”

Eileen knew what they were talking about. She didn’t see it herself, but apparently another human appeared in the town a couple weeks before – and they were accompanied by monsters. They had already left the place, but some people in her group were still astonished by that and would bring that subject up from time to time. But not her. As far as she knew, they could very well _not_ be a human, so she never bothered with it.

Knocking on the door to indicate her presence, she stepped inside the bedroom. Her father looked at her with a little smile and nodded. The other looked seriously at her, but when he noticed who she was he winked playfully with a smug.

“Hey Leenilee.”, he said. “How you doin’?”

Eileen clenched her teeth.

“I already told you _not_ to call me that.”

“Oh c’mon, why don’t you throw me a bone here?”

“I would if you weren’t such a dork!”

The man chuckled. That was Chris – and Eileen wasn’t really fond of him, to be honest. He was about the same age as her father, indicated by the graying hair and the wrinkles under his eyes. Eileen would probably like him more if he maintained his serious persona more often – instead, he preferred to make irrelevant, dumb jokes and remarks whenever he could. Still, being an ex-military, his expertise on firearms and hand-to-hand combat made him valuable to the group. Even Eileen had to (reluctantly) admit she learned a thing or two about self-defense with him.

“Fine, fine, I’m going.”, he said, sighing before looking at her father again. “We go tomorrow?”

Leonard nodded, and Eileen stared at him. Chris simply walked towards the bedroom’s door, giving a short goodbye wave on his way out. When she heard that he got out of the house, she crossed her arms and looked her father in the eyes.

“So... where do we ‘go’ tomorrow?”, she asked.

He avoided eye contact, which made Eileen curious, if slightly afraid. She had the feeling something big was on sight. Her attention, however, was caught by the big map of the region on the wall, with little scribbles all over it. She recognized her father’s and Heather’s handwritings among them.

“Are you planning something?”, she asked more directly.

He shifted his weight on his feet, but that time he looked Eileen in the eyes.

“We’re going to kill their empress.”

If Leonard had picked his daughter by the ankles and shook her upside down she wouldn’t have been nearly as surprised as she currently was. They had done some crazy stuff before to survive, but killing the empress...

“That’s insane!”, she exclaimed. “Dad, you can’t be serious!”

“We have to take our chances.”, he replied methodically. “If we take her out... I don’t know, maybe all this madness will end.”

Eileen covered her face in her hands and gave a deep breath. She felt something funny in her throat – like an itch that started to expand to her whole body.

“Do you even know where she is?”

Leonard walked towards the map, studying it for a while before pointing at a particular town. It was on the opposite side of the region – getting there would be no easy feat.

“That’s... far.”, said Eileen, a bit disappointed.

“I know. And I know it will be dangerous... so only a small part of the group will go for it, myself included. But I want you to stay.”

“Not gonna happen.”

Of course Eileen knew her father would want her to stay. She couldn’t say she didn’t understand – it was only natural for a parent to want to protect their child. But she was tired of that. She was tired of having her capacities diminished by others because she was the youngest. She was tired of people treating her like a precious, fragile flower that needed to be protected by all means.

“Eileen, this is serious.”, said Leonard, more imposing.

“Do you think I don’t _know_ that!?”, replied Eileen, exasperated. “Dad, I know you’re worried, but I’m not a kid anymore! You can’t protect me from everything! I’m actually tougher than half of the people in the group, and you know that!” 

Some seconds passed with no response after she said that. She thought she could actually hear his brain working to give her a reply. Instead, he just gave a dry laugh.

“You were always a tough kid.”, he said. “But sometimes I felt you just wanted for others to see you as such, so they wouldn’t worry.”

“I guess... I can say the same for you. We really are father and daughter, huh?”

Eileen gave a little smile. Her father looked at her again, but that time differently – like he had just noticed how much she had grown.

“I wanna fight.”, she said.

“Why?”

She bit her lip, putting her hands in her pockets. To be honest, she didn’t really know why – specially after what happened that day. But she knew she wanted to, regardless.

“I believe...”, she began. “I believe we can still live a normal life after this. Or at least as normal as it could ever be. I wanna _live_ , dad. And if there’s a chance to stop this suffering, I’ll take it.”

Leonard still gazed at his daughter, putting his hands on his hips. He had a sad expression, but his eyes had a faint shine of pride that made Eileen feel good with herself.

“I guess nothing I say will change your mind.”, he said, finally. “You can come along, then. You should know our lives have been in constant danger up until now, but from now on it’ll get even _more_ dangerous.”

“I can take care of myself.”, replied Eileen, looking into her father’s eyes. “You know that.”

“I do.”, he said, and Eileen detected a faint tremble in his voice. “I guess you’re not my ‘little girl’ anymore, right?”

And Eileen knew, in that moment, she had finally been recognized as an adult. It made her happy, of course – it was something she had wanted for quite some time, after all – but it also made her sad. And looking at her father, she understood, somehow, why.

They stood in silence for some time before they both gave a step forward and embraced each other tightly. In a sense, it was just a hug – like the many fathers and daughters would give, but it also was filled with other things, like the uncertainty of the future and the feeling something had changed forever. Things would never be the same. Not in that life.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They stood like that for some time before Leonard broke the hug.

“We leave tomorrow morning.”, he said, hacking. “I’m uh... gonna divide the rations now.”

Eileen nodded. It wasn’t like she had to do much to prepare – everything she needed was already in her backpack. She watched her father make his way out of the bedroom, but he hesitated by the door and looked behind one more time. The room was quite dark now, but she still could see his expression flawlessly.

“Eileen?”

“Yeah?”

“Your mother would have been proud.”

And with that, he left. Eileen kept thinking about her mother. What would she have done in that war? Would she really be proud of her, or would she just be worried?

Eileen sat on the bad, looking at the big map in front of her and thinking about what was about to happen. Her father had traced a course of action, it seemed. The question was: if they actually managed to kill the empress, what would happen? Would monsters really stop fighting? Or would it only get worse?

But then again, why did monsters began that war in the first place?

She remembered a story – she couldn’t really remind how she knew it, but she remembered it anyway. A legend so old and so fantastic many people didn’t know about it.

Long ago, humans and monsters lived peacefully together – until a war broke out between the two races. After a long battle in which almost all monsters were killed, the humans were victorious. They sealed the remaining creatures underground with a magical spell.

Eileen thought it was a bit far-fetched. Magical spell? Underground? How could that possibly be true? But then, she couldn’t deny monsters _were_ real. So maybe believing in that legend wasn’t such an absurd thing to do.

That didn’t explain a lot of things, though. Who started that war back then? And if they really had been “underground” that whole time, how did they escape?

If the whole context was considered, who was right: humans or monsters?

But Eileen noticed none of that really mattered. She knew she was fighting for her life – all humans were. And it wasn’t in the human nature to simply let things happen without doing anything.

In the end, she was only human. And she was going to fight until the end.

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to BlackRazorBill for their support throughout the series! In fact, the idea for this spin-off came from their comment on Falling Apart – so I hope I lived up to their expectations!  
> 


End file.
